by Dan Farris
“Are you a demon? Answer me!” The woman ignored Sean, as if he wasn’t there. The woman kept uttering the words, “In you I give the power, the power of this space.”
“You’re the voice from my dreams. Who are you? What does that mean? Am I dead?” The woman was looking down at something, but Sean only saw darkness.
“My son, in you I give the power, the power of this space. Your father, the tyrant, will find you, but you have the power. You are a threat to him, but do not fear him, and do not let him deceive you like he once did me. I loved him once. Be strong and be kind. Be good. You are half of your father, but he did not create you, you are the last that remains of us. This space is your home, not his. He is an invader.” The woman shrieked.
“He’s coming! Go, my son, and remember me. In you I give the power, the power of this space.” A powerful orb stretched from the woman’s hand, and she disappeared.
Sean was back in his bedroom. I’m home! That woman…she…was my mother? She wasn’t human. Who is she? What is she? What am I? What happened to her? How did I get here? Did God destroy her? No… God is good. I need answers. Wait… my father. Was she talking about God?
Just as Sean was trying to process what he had seen and heard, the roof of his house was blown away. Sean looked up, Barachiel was in the sky above him. His wings were out. “There you are! Still ready to meet oblivion?”
I can’t...not now. I need to know what happened. I need to know the truth.
“Not anymore.”
“You would go against the will of God? You are an abomination. You have no reason to exist.”
“I do have a reason, even if God wants me destroyed. I don’t want to fight anymore. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore. Just leave me alone.”
“Never! I will end you.” God, if this is the way it has to be...
Sean stared at Barachiel briefly, and then he ascended and met him in the sky. Barachiel produced a power sword, and Sean produced a power sword as well. Barachiel flew toward Sean and struck him with his power sword, and Sean blocked it with his. The force of the impact caused Sean’s home to crumble.
Barachiel and Sean fought in the sky, trading blow for blow. Sean was able to match Barachiel despite never being taught how to use a sword. Sean sliced off one of Barachiel’s arms and legs. Barachiel screamed in agony, and Sean’s power sword disappeared.
“We don’t have to do this. I don’t want to hurt you, even though you killed Aadon. Tell God that I’m no threat to him, please.” Barachiel looked at Sean, and closed his eyes.
Barachiel was motionless for a few minutes. Then a beam of light struck him from above. When the beam disappeared, Barachiel’s arm and leg were rejuvenated, and his wounds were gone. He flew toward Sean and landed a punch, throwing Sean backward. Sean made his power sword reappear just in time to block an attack from Barachiel’s power sword.
They continued fighting again, and Barachiel was now moving so quickly that Sean could not keep up. Barachiel sliced Sean in his back, and then in the stomach. Sean’s power sword disappeared, and he started to descend from the sky.
Sean landed in an empty field, far away from his home. He was in intense pain, and he was unable to move. He could no longer feel his legs. Barachiel landed on the ground and started walking toward him. “You thought you could defeat the power of God? You are nothing, just like the rest of your kind. Father, I slay this creature in your honor.”
Not like this. I never got a chance to figure out what I was. God, I don’t know why you want me exterminated. I need answers. I can’t die now.
“This space is yours. This power is yours. I give this power to you, my son, the power of this space. All that remains of us, I give to you.” Sean’s body slowly levitated off the ground. Barachiel slashed at Sean with his power sword, but his blows did not land. Sean’s wounds all healed, and when he finally stood, his skin was a pure teal color.
“Impossible!”
“You won’t stop, will you? God, forgive me.” Sean looked at Barachiel. Barachiel’s body began to vanish until it was no more. Sean looked toward the sky. “I told you, I’m no threat to you. I’ve loved you my whole life, even if you hate me. I will find out the truth about me, and the truth about you.
“This feels too weird.” Sean closed his eyes, and his skin changed back to its normal color.
Was the blue woman telling the truth? All the people that died because of me… I should have never summoned that demon. No going back in time. There’s only one person who can give me the answers I need. Gaia. Just have to do this first.
“I wished things had turned out differently. I’m not sure if you ever loved me, but I understand why you did what you did. Mary Ann, go to Heaven, and forget all the pain you felt in Hell.” Mary Ann’s spirit rose above in the sky, going to Heaven. It’s never too late to do the right thing.
“You did it,” said a voice. Sean turned around, it was Lucy.
“What are you doing here?!”
“You killed a commander. Your powers are growing.”
“What…how…What’s going on?” Wings of fire emerged from Lucy’s shoulders. “You’re an angel?”
“No, I’m someone with daddy issues like you.”
“What are you?”
“I’m the beast with seven heads and ten heads.”
“What does that mean?”
“You should read Revelation more often.”
“Wait… beast… Revelation… You’re the.. Antichrist?!”
Lucy grabbed Sean and kissed him. “Did my name give it away?”
Chapter 55-Samael
Samael and the remaining angels and demons returned to the lake of fire. A’isha was standing where he had left her. As soon as he landed on the ground, A’isha hugged and kissed him.
“Were you victorious?”
“Yes, but not how I planned.”
“Your wounds! You’re hurt more than last time.”
“I’ll be fine.”
A’isha looked worried. “This is your army?”
“All that remains of it.”
“Will you still attack Heaven?”
“I have no choice now. If I wait, Michael will keep attacking us until we’re wiped out.”
“Can you still win?”
“Other than my father, I’m the strongest creature in this space… I’m not so sure anymore. I’ve lost the advantage of surprise, and now my army is depleted.”
“You talk as if all hope is lost. You are still Samael the mighty. Is there some strategy that you haven’t thought of yet?”
“Strategy was never my strong point. Since I declared war on my father, if I had used better strategy… things would not have turned out the way they have.”
“Much power makes one very arrogant.”
“I see that now. I miss Gabriel. I need him. He was the master tactician.”
A’isha looked puzzled. “He was? How was he captured then?”
“He was too eager to overthrow my father. He got careless.”
“He’s a master tactician, but he got careless? In all your time of knowing him, has he ever gotten careless before?”
“No... What are you getting at?”
“The creature that you loved, Zethera. When you were on her planet, who came to you?”
“Gabriel.”
“Who got you away from her by telling you that God wanted a galaxy destroyed?”
“Gabriel.”
“When you left Heaven after the rebellion, who has never indicated, until recently, that he harbored resentment toward the Creator?”
“Gabriel… No, it can’t be!”
“Over the ages, who did God send to Earth more than any other angel, to deliver important messages to the humans? Out of all the angels in Heaven, the Creator trusted him with this information. And then this trusted angel just decided to overthrow the Creator?”
“No! No! I won’t believe it. I can’t. He would never betray me! Never!”
Samael opene
d up a portal and quickly went through it. Emerging from the portal, Samael was surrounded by a dark void of nothingness, except in the middle. In the middle, there was a golden gate, larger than the earth. Samael now stood before the Gates of Heaven.
“Gabriel! Gabriel! Come out and answer me!”
After a short time, the gates opened, and out came Zethera. She was wearing a golden dress.
“Zethera?!”
Chapter 56-Samael
Zethera walked through the Gates of Heaven. “Hello, Samael.”
“Zethera? You exist.” Samael started crying tears of joy. “Your planet was destroyed. You were gone.”
“I’m back now.” The two embraced and kissed.
“Did my father bring you back?”
“I never left.”
“What? You were kept a prisoner? I’ll see Heaven burn. All of them shall pay for this.”
“You’re hurt.”
“I’ll heal. I... I thought you were gone.”
“I wasn’t a prisoner.”
“What?”
“I love you, Samael. That wasn’t part of the plan, but I fell in love with you.”
“You are not making any sense.”
“I imagine you were hurt when you heard my planet and all her inhabitants were destroyed. If that were true, then we would have been wiped from existence. Unlike God’s favorite creation, there is no afterlife for us, until now.” Zethera turned her back and looked at the Gates of Heaven.
“It’s so beautiful. No more pain, conquests, wars, or death-only eternal bliss. When he came to me and described it, I couldn’t believe him, but he was telling the truth.”
“Who came to you?”
“Your brother, Gabriel.”
“After he saw you outside the palace, he came to you?”
“Long before that. He told me that a powerful being was headed toward my planet, and all I had to do to gain Heaven for myself and all my people was to make him fall in love with me.”
“I loved you!”
“But you never made love to me. Too afraid of your father. With all your power, you never had the power to give me eternal life, but he did.”
Samael walked by Zethera, tears in his eyes, and headed toward the Gates of Heaven. “Gabriel! Come out now.”
Finally, Gabriel walked through the gates. “Hello, brother.”
“Why? All of it, why?”
“After you left Heaven, after you abandoned us, I told Father we should have taken care of you then. You and Lucifer almost cost us everything.”
“I cast Lucifer down to Hell! Only to have my companion and offspring destroyed! Of course I left!”
“You can’t just leave! Who do you think you are? You hate Father so much because you’re jealous of him. We were made to serve, all of us. There is no free will, not even for the humans. If they displease Father, they get cast down to Hell.”
“I did not want Father’s throne.”
“In leaving, your actions said otherwise. That challenged the hierarchy that Father put in place the moment he created you. This isn’t a republic. There are no votes, no choice. Father’s will be done. End of story.”
“The lies, the treachery.”
“You still had friends in Heaven, especially Michael. He always vouched for you. He always reminded Father how you won the war. He told Father that even though you left Heaven, you would never betray Father. I knew I had to prove them wrong, so that’s when I thought, what would convince Samael the mighty to declare war on Father?” Gabriel looked at Zethera. “I was proven right, and after you are destroyed, all of the remaining angels, fallen or otherwise, will know one thing: there is no choice. Father’s will be done.”
“You… I’ll make you beg for mercy.”
“I don’t think so, with your wounds. I’ll destroy you, and then I’ll be the savior of Heaven.” Gabriel and Samael both created swords of power and rushed toward each other.
Chapter 57-Samael
Samael and Gabriel were fighting outside the gates of Heaven as Zethera watched. Each time Samael would gain the upper hand, he would grab his wounds, which still had not healed. However, Samael was able to land enough blows that Gabriel eventually became wounded as well.
Samael looked briefly at Zethera, who appeared to be concerned for him, but she did not interfere.
“How could you betray me?”
“I asked myself that same question when you abandoned Heaven. It doesn’t matter anymore, the only thing that matters is that you fall!” Gabriel landed several more blows on Samael, striking him with his power sword and his fist.
I won’t last much longer... If I am to fall here, then so be it.
Samael stopped coming toward Gabriel, and Gabriel stared at him. “You can’t defeat me now, you know that. You’re too hurt. Why don’t you just retreat to Hell?”
“I never run from a fight. You know that.”
Gabriel shook his head. Then Samael threw power balls at Gabriel, before rushing in toward him with his power sword. Gabriel blocked all of Samael’s attacks, but did not counter.
“Stop, just imprison him!” Screamed Zethera.
“Heaven can’t hold Samael. He has to end. And remember the agreement: once he is gone, you and your people get to live in Heaven for all eternity.”
“This was your plan all along? To see me destroyed? Finish it, then.”
Gabriel hesitated for several moments. He looked at Samael and then back toward Heaven. “It has to be done,” said Gabriel. He started attacking Samael again.
Samael, no longer able to throw power balls or create a power sword, started fighting Gabriel with his fists. Gabriel followed suit, and the two powerful angels began fist-fighting, but Gabriel quickly gained the upper hand.
At last, Gabriel created a power ball. “Goodbye, brother.” Gabriel launched the power ball at Samael, but Michael appeared and deflected it.
“Michael, what are you doing? Want the glory for yourself?”
Michael touched Samael, and all of his wounds were healed.
“Leave us, I need to speak with my brothers,” said Michael.
Zethera quickly went inside the Gates of Heaven.
“Why…why did you heal me?”
“What have you done?” Asked Gabriel.
“We’ve all been fools.” Michael looked toward the black abyss that surrounded them, while Samael and Gabriel kept looking at each other until Samael grabbed Gabriel. “Release him. No time for that anymore.”
“Give me one good reason.”
“You’ll see soon enough.” A small crack appeared right next to the Gates of Heaven.
“Samael, summon your army in Hell. Father needs everyone now.”
“What is this?”
“Father was so focused on you, thanks to Gabriel and what was happening on Earth, that he didn’t tell me until it was too late.”
“Earth?” Asked Gabriel.
“Barachiel is destroyed, and now this.”
“I don’t understand,” said Gabriel.
“Father didn’t destroy Lucifer and the others because he knew he might need them someday. I wish he had told me before I invaded Hell. We’ve lost too many.”
The small crack next to the Gates of Heaven grew bigger and bigger. Angels stormed out of the Gates of Heaven.
“Father will pay for what he did to me! So will you, Gabriel!”
“Brother, there will be time to settle scores. But not now. We need each other!” Yelled Michael.
“I don’t need Father, or any of you!”
“If you don’t get your army and join us, then we all fall,” said Michael.
“Never!”
“Look, one of the other powers finally sensed it. Father is too weak now; this space is about to be invaded.”
“It can’t be,” said Gabriel.
“You know what this means?” Asked Michael.
Samael finally released Gabriel. “Destruction,” said Samael.
“No more lies or tri
cks. If you don’t join us now, we don’t stand a chance. Can you put aside your vengeance until we defeat the invaders?” Asked Michael.
Damn him. If I don’t, I’ll never get to make Father, Gabriel, and Zethera pay.
“I’ll bring my army here. Hold the Gates until I return. This power will wish they had chosen elsewhere.”
“Brother, tell A’isha that I’m sorry about what happened,” said Michael.
“She is of no concern to you!” Samael created a portal back to Hell. “And Gabriel, this changes nothing. After this is over, you’ve been marked for destruction.”
“I’ll be waiting for you,” replied Gabriel.
The End.